Esnesnon 22-4-10

Let's talk books.

1: Anything ever written by Umberto Eco is good. Call me biased and burn me at the stake.
2: Most Dutch literature is depressing, bad and depressingly bad. Call me rather biased and roast me on a stick above a pile of burning Dutch literary works.
3: The modern literature has abandoned the important duty of criticizing the world. Most literary works confine themselves to criticizing fictional beings in a semi-fictional setting, hiding the opinion and critical mind of the author. Call me a left-wing arrogant bastard and hang me with my own intestines.
4: The book is still an important form of art, the modern society has not changed that. The dependency on paper is allowed to end, but books endure as something beyond ink and paper. Call me a foolish romantic and bludgeon me to death with the third part of the Twilight saga.
5: Post-modernist literature is a filthy lie and the very term is an internal contradiction. Call me conservative, obtuce and slit your own wrists while listening to someone playing Guitar Hero in the background.
Enough books.

You know what, not enough books. Reverse that statement in your mind, please, for I won't change it here. More books. Much more books. I say: bookshops begone! Break the arbitrary monopoly of commercialist fools, attempting to dominate that which they can never fully grasp in profit margins and balance sheets. I say: bring back the aristocracy, so we have well-educated people who don't have to make money, to write books and poems! Stop worrying about money. As a matter of fact, destroy the society that makes artists into wage-workers. You know what, let's destroy modern society anyway. It's insane and we are slowly moving towards a dark and desperate future. Yeah. Everyone who says history is at an end is an utter moron, but I welcome the one who says historical progress should end with open arms. I am a reactionary towards a past that doesn't exist, I am an idealist time traveler. Maybe I should just get back to playing jazz.

Hugo Maat